Spellscarred Lands
At the turn of the era in 1246e4, Damariath, the Mad Mage caused a catastrophic spell blast that destroyed his home kingdom of Terallia and created a wild magic plague over the surrounding countryside, giving birth to the Spellstorms and the Blightborn. Ser Faolen Rethan's Expiditions Ser Faolen Rethan of House Rethan leads his rangers into the Spell-cursed Wasteland searching for the remains of the lost tower of the mad mage. He hopes to discover answers, and perhaps a way to end this Blight. His rangers also patrol the borders between the Wasteland and House Rethan's woodlands. Running a Spellscarred Lands Game The Spellscarred Lands are vast and ruinous. Ancient kingdoms and forests of the elves have fallen to the Blight, and the once great kingdom of Terallia was at the heart of the Spell-cursed Wasteland before a certain mad mage's experiments unleashed the spell blast. To enter is dangerous and full of bizarre monsters (you may re-flavor stat blocks for monstrosities, aberrations, fiends, and fey for new creatures, or homebrew your own). 1. The Blighted Forest On the edge of the Spellscarred lands, between the border of House Rethan's territory and where the Spellstorms run rampant, the woodlands have become touched by the Blight, causing the local flora and fauna to become corrupted by the raw magic and transform them into horrors. The players enter the blighted forest on the beginning of their trek into the Spellscarred lands. They notice where the part of the forest that is Blight-touched immediately, the unnatural chitter of insects and birds echoes through the forest, alien calls that even the most trained druid would not be able to identify. The odor smells of mildew and ozone like after a lightning strike, and the air holds a light mist that limits sight to 300ft. Trees seem to grow and bend in odd ways, growing at sharp angles, or smaller younger trees seeming to grow crushing roots against older, gutting and siphoning from their elder until only a crumbling husk remains. Light above trickles down to the floor in scarce beams between the overhead bramble of barren branches, where yellow vines and thorns twist and loop around creating a thicket of intertwining strands like a tangled net across the treetops. Below, the ground is covered in the soft soil of blackened fallen leaves, the air is thick with little to no breeze, and the undergrowth has been withered and suffocated by the yellow vines above. A small pathway leads through this blighted woodland, kept clear by the elven rangers that fight back the Blight. The path grows narrow in some places, requiring adventurers to dismount and walk through. On either side of the winding path, the forest opens and closes in the thickets, and shadows dance between the grotesque trees and vines. Further down the path the party finds it blocked by a new growth of alien flora: bright orange and blue flowers blossoming from a teal vine, and small purple berries the size of an acorn clustered underneath the bloom. A DC 17 Survival check will show the party where the path begins again. The blossoming flowers and berries require a DC 22 Medicine or Nature Check to identify as poisonous. Eating the Berries causes the eater to suffer the effects of the Pale Tincture poison (DMG 258). Smelling the flowers causes the smeller to suffer the effects of the Malice poison (DMG 258). Random Encounters After passing the orange and blue blooms, the forest grows disturbingly quite. The party can attempt to avoid drawing attention to themselves by performing a DC 10 Stealth check, for every two fails the party will have 1 random encounter on their way. Blighted Forest Encounters 2. The Acid Bogs Once the players clear from the edge of the woodlands they reach a clearing, but the mist grows thicker and the stench of rotting flesh fills the air. The trees grow scarce as they reach a marshland, with patches of earth surrounded by stinking pools of yellowish-green water. The terrain counts as difficult terrain, and moving at full speed or higher requires a DC 12 Acrobatics check. On a failed save, they fall prone into the pools and alert nearby monsters of their location (See Acid Bogs Encounters). Acid Pools Each of the pools is filled with acidic liquid, causing 2d10 acid damage for partial submersion and 4d10 for full submersion each round. Items of organic material (wood, flesh, fabric, leather, rope) and metal begin to deteriorate upon contact with the acid, while glass and stone remain unaffected. Acid Bogs Encounters Child's Laughter While traversing the bogs, echoing across the still air is the sound of children laughing. In the distance of the mist, lights and shadows dance. Those that witness this must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or find themselves running to the children's rescue DC 12 Acrobatics Check to avoid falling. If they reach the lights, they find the mist opens to a child standing in the center of an acid pool. The Child is an illusion DC 17 Wisdom Saving Throw to realize, those who fail are lured into helping the child by getting them out of the pool. If the child comes within 5ft. of a creature it is luring the illusion breaks and 3 Green Hags attack with a surprise round. 3. The Spell-cursed Wasteland Beyond the edge of the Acid Bogs lies the Spell-cursed Wasteland, a barren land of cruel winds that have ripped and reshaped the once rich plains beneath them. The plains are now a dustbowl, where dark sands twirl and twist in the air, heavily obscuring vision and blocking out most of the light above. Arcane Clouds In close-kept swirls of the dark sands hover gaseous billows of raw arcane energy, with purple sparks emitting and sounds of echoing inane babble can be heard. If a creature stares at one of the clouds for more than one minute, they are inflicted with short-term madness. If a creature tries to touch a cloud they are dealt 3d10 force damage and are knocked back 20ft. and fall prone. Guide Pillars In the darkness of the winding sands can be seen tall stone spires 15ft. tall with hanging shards of mirrors dangling from them in the wind, placed by the elven rangers that travel into the Spell-cursed Wasteland as markers, keeping each approximately 50 ft. apart. To travel forward the party must be able to identify the spire before them, and to return they must be able to see the spire behind them, a DC 13 Perception check will show them where each spire stands. Upon close inspection each spire is painted with a symbol, showing which of the routes the spire has followed into the storm, a DC 10 Investigation check will tell which route the spire belongs to. If a player cannot see a pillar, they are lost, and must make a DC 13 Wisdom Saving throw or suffer a long-term madness, and cannot find their way back until they succeed on a DC 17 Survival Check to locate a new random pillar. Along some of the guide pillars can be discovered caves and dug out trenches, where evidence of a camp once was. Each camp seems to spread deeper into the Wasteland, but each is abandoned, suggesting the rangers have moved on to another camp. Wasteland Encounters 4. The Blighted Horde Dwelling in the wild magic that permeates the air in the Spellscarred Lands for generations, the forces of the Blighted Horde amass in mostly-inert areas of the Spell-cursed Wasteland. The constant exposure to arcane energy has twisted the bands of orcs, trolls, ettins, and ogres into grotesque monstrosities, marked by overgrown limbs, bony protrusions, and varying degrees of magical prowess. The Blighted Horde is structured on rule by the strong, and the denizens of the Spellscarred Lands fall into a loose hierarchy within individual bands: ogres and ettins at the top, followed by trolls, then orcs, and goblins at the bottom. Forming a Horde Recently, scouts of the Ravens from House Rethan have observed movements of the Blighted Horde that suggest they are massing their forces, coming together as one large, contiguous unit rather than scattered individual warbands. Fighting has broken out among the ogres and ettins, vying for position as leader of the horde, while the underlings have been focused on making camp together and unifying as one group. They don't seem to be making any coordinated movements as of yet, but there must be some reason for this aggregation, and knowledge of this activity doesn't sit right with the Tarethi. The scouts are keeping an eye on them for the time being, reporting all of their observations back to House Rethan. (Blighted Horde encounter table pending)